Jason Stockfish, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
Tourist numbers are set to increase in Jasper this year compared to 2020 and 2021 as restrictions begin to ease, particularly those involving the border.
James Jackson, president and CEO at Tourism Jasper, said they had thought Jasper would have been hit worse by the pandemic than it was.
鈥淚t still wasn鈥檛 good, but we have a pretty sharp pencil when it comes to the impact that COVID (has had on Jasper),鈥� Jackson said.
鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 been easy, but Jasper has performed disproportionately better than a lot of other destinations鈥� within our competitive set, within other leisure mountain destinations, like Banff, Whistler, Mont-Tremblant (and) some American destinations as well.鈥�
Jackson explained a few different factors that helped explain why Jasper has fared better.
鈥淪imply put, the regional market, our core market in the winter historically speaking, was unable to leave, and so because of that awareness of Jasper and the product, they were captive,鈥� Jackson said.
鈥淭hey couldn鈥檛 obviously leave the country, but they were aware of Jasper, so they came in the summer, which sort of backfilled about half of what we would normally experience, which is something to celebrate.鈥�
Jackson noted that historically Jasper can be a challenging destination for attracting southern Albertans, but by leaning into their marketing efforts, Tourism Jasper and its partners used the stunning drive along the Icefields Parkway to great advertising advantage.
鈥淎t the same time, we invested at Tourism Jasper a lot of money in southern Alberta, because we knew that we would have a higher capture rate in northern Alberta, and B.C.,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut in Calgary, specifically, we knew that we could compete at a more competitive level with Banff, and so (Tourism Jasper) and a variety of other partners really targeted Calgary, and we definitely saw (results) over the last two summers.鈥�
Tourism Jasper is already seeing bookings pacing at a strong rate this season.
Jackson said he expects a strong summer in Jasper because of the potential for inbound international travelers with the lifting of the federal requirement for a negative PCR test.
However, Jackson added that there remains a strong domestic component to tourism numbers in Jasper.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing from a Canadian sentiment perspective, the majority of Canadians still aren鈥檛 quite ready to hop on a plane and go to Europe or on a long-haul trip,鈥� Jackson said.
鈥淪o, we鈥檙e going to still see a significant amount of domestic visitation into Jasper, and that, combined with the international pent-up demand that we鈥檒l experience, will create a very busy summer.鈥�
Jackson explained that bookings made for 2020 and 2021 were never fully refunded.
Rather, they rolled over into 2022, and so most of these pre-arranged trips are still on tour operators鈥� books.
With the increased numbers of visitors comes an increased demand on Jasper鈥檚 businesses and facilities, Jackson said the town will be able to accommodate the increased tourism numbers, provided the staff are in place to deliver the services.
Acknowledging that staffing can be a serious weakness for a town marketing itself as a tourist destination, Jackson explained that in addition to marketing Jasper as a destination for travellers, Tourism Jasper is running a similar campaign targeting Ontario and Quebec to attract workers.
鈥淚t will look and feel a lot like a tourism campaign, but instead of saying come and spend your vacation in Jasper, it鈥檚 saying come and work in Jasper,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 think the challenge this summer will be serving the demand, so ensuring that we have an adequate and appropriately rested workforce. That will be our biggest challenge this year. It won鈥檛 be about demand.鈥�
Jackson added that Jasper still had reason to celebrate despite the challenges and hardships from COVID.
鈥淲e have reason to celebrate not only the quality of the product in attracting visitors here, but in how the community came together, and how we got through this as a cohesive unit,鈥� he said.
鈥淚f we remind ourselves about that, we鈥檒l be just fine.鈥�
